Another View: The truth about Syria: No one knows

What do parents say to our children about President Barack Obama's speech to the nation this week regarding Syria?

Kids are amazingly perceptive. They catch snatches of adult conversation and of TV and radio news. They see the headlines. They know when parents are concerned and when neighborhoods seem unsettled. And given the work of the Oregon National Guard and of the many Oregonians in the regular and reserve military, kids know what it's like to have parents sent to war.

And they may hear passers-by speak of missile strikes, of retribution and of war weariness.

This is not like when the United States ousted Iraq from Kuwait, back when war in the Middle East didn't seem to threaten those of us back home.

Sept. 11, 2001, shattered that illusion. So what do we say today?

We can tell our children that the Constitution worked as insightful men back in the 1700s designed it. The president followed the Constitution by asking Congress' approval to launch military action, but Congress-just like the American people-was reluctant.

We can tell our kids that when you start a fight, even if you only plan to launch one blow, you cannot guarantee how the fight will end. Obama had vowed to launch a very, very limited strike at Syria to teach its monstrous leadership a lesson for using chemical warfare. What would have happened next? No one knows. Obama promised "no American boots on the ground" in Syria-referring to American moms and dads, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.

We can say that Obama made the right decision, even at the cost of his credibility, in first taking the issue to Congress and now agreeing to let Russia take the lead. Syria allegedly used sarin gas, a chemical weapon that is easy to make, on its own people in violation of any civil norms of society. That the gas attack occurred seems indisputable; that the government launched it seems probable. Russia has now advocated for putting Syria's chemical weapons under international control and dismantling them, instead of America's launching an attack.

We can be honest and say we don't know what the right thing to do is, but violence should always be the last resort.

And we can tell our kids that whether we agree or disagree with Barack Obama, he is our president. He is in a very difficult position, as is our nation. He needs our thoughts and prayers, as do the Syrian people.

--Statesman Journal, Salem, Ore.

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Another View: The truth about Syria: No one knows

What do parents say to our children about President Barack Obama's speech to the nation this week regarding Syria?